Simon Fish

Simon Fish (died 1531) was a Protestant reformer and English propagandist. He authored the vehemently anti-clerical pamphlet A Supplication for the Beggars, and he died of the bubonic plague before he could stand trial for his "heretical" works.

Biography
Simon Fish was born in England, but he was forced into exile in Antwerp in the Habsburg Netherlands on two occasions. During his second exile, he wrote A Supplication for the Beggars, a sixteen-page pamphlet that accused the Catholic Church of everything from avarice to murder to treason; the work was dedicated to King Henry VIII of England. Fish argued against the doctrine of Purgatory and the sale of indulgences, and he also claimed that the clergy was seeking to usurp the power of the state. His writings were condemned as heretical by the Church, and they served as a precursor to the English Reformation. Fish was arrested in London on charges of heresy, but he died of the bubonic plague before he could stand trial.